Apple Working Conditions

The Insane Apple Allegations That Everyone's Talking About

Lately, Apple’s come under fire for harsh working conditions at its Foxconn iPhone and iPad factories. A recent report by The New York Times exposed Apple's complicity in these workers’ exploitation, quoting an anonymous Apple executive as saying: “...The system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”

In a previous Times story about the impressive pace of Chinese manufacturing, there was an example of 8,000 Foxconn workers being woken up at a late hour to assemble a last-minute change to the iPhone’s screen. Of course, Foxconn officially denied the claim, saying that workers' hours are strictly adhered to, but workers familiar with the case backed up the original story. Other examples of harsh conditions abound: explosions at a Chengdu-based iPad factory killed four people and injured 77, even after Apple had been made aware of the hazardous conditions at the plant. In another case, 137 workers at another Chinese Apple supplier were injured after they were given a poisonous chemical to clean the screens of iPhones. The list is long, it seems.

Today, an internal email by furious CEO Tim Cook trumpeted the company line: “Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.”

Apple has always defended itself by saying it has a supplier code of conduct, but this is a bit like saying, “The iPhone in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free,” and then not expecting your suppliers to run employees off a cliff in an effort to meet their deadlines. Apple and other companies working in China will have to take a more active role in setting up independent monitors because it’s obvious that managers at companies like Foxconn can’t be trusted to put their employees interest before their clients. Those thinking “why don’t employees just start a union?” should know that they will get a 12-year prison sentence for attempting to unionize. Claims about “values” are meaningless without some real moves to back them up, since it’s clear employees have no control over the situation.

Unfortunately, Apple’s not unique here, and, as The New York Times mentioned, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Toshiba, and others are all implicated. Here’s hoping all this scrutiny results in some actual industry-wide soul searching followed by action, not just empty claims that they pinky swear to give a crap.